We had just spent a few hours wandering around a cold and windy Carmarthen. Despite a pleasant visit to the new market where we found an excellent butcher with home cured meats and bacon, a great organic vegetable seller and a little old lady selling home made cakes we found nowhere that took our fancy for lunch.

Back in the car, with a plan to drive round until we found somewhere, it finally dawned on me that we were pretty close to Y Polyn. One quick phone call later and we had a table booked for 30 minutes hence.

We were there in 15 and when we arrived we discovered how lucky we were to get a table, as the car park was chock a block. Inside we went directly to our table in the busy dining room, and started checking out the menu.

I love the atmosphere at Y Polyn. It’s very relaxed with all its purple tones and staff in their black tee-shirts emblazoned with “Fat Equals Flavour, Live With It”. You just know you’re going to get some good food.

Back at the menus, MrsA decided to opt for the Credit Crunch Lunch, which at two courses for £12 or three courses for £14.50 provides incredible value for money. The niece, a pescetarian, and I decided to opt for the normal lunch menu.

The Credit Crunch Lunch delivered a salad of Pear, Perl Las and Pecan Nut. The strong but creamy cheese a perfect counter-balance to the sweet pear, whilst the pecan’s delivered not only flavour but texture.

The niece and I took full advantage of the season with a green salad of Wye Valley Asparagus served with parmesan shavings and croutons. Freshness on a plate! There was just enough dressing left for us to mop up with the complementary breads.

I opted for the tasty Middle White Pork Sausages with Caramelised Apples, a marriage made in heaven. The ‘beautifully ugly’ Middle White is a rare but distinctive breed of pig and one that I generally prefer to the more common ‘Gloucester Old Spot’. Even in sausage form its unique flavour shone through.

MrsA’s Credit Crunch Lunch, delivered a Smoked Haddock Pie that delivered not only a great depth of flavour but the right balance of smoky warm to drive the effects of those Carmarthenshire winds away.

None of us were totally convinced we could manage dessert but the promise of a lemon tart proved too much for me and I was forced to indulge. Those that know me, know that I think there is little worse than just a hint of lemon. I always refuse a slice in any drink as if it’s there it needs to be sharp and unmistakeable. Fortunately this didn’t disappoint on any level, not only was the pastry thin and crisp but the sharpness of the lemon almost made one wince with delight. You might well “know when you’ve been Tango’d™” but I suspect it might feel like an angels kiss when compared to the punch packed by this baby. Delightful!

The ladies decided that they couldn’t just sit and watch me eat dessert so they decided to share the Credit Crunch’s version of a Knickerbocker Glory. The clattering of duelling dessert spoons and the speed of its disappearance leads me to believe that it was an excellent example of its type.

This would have been about my sixth visit to Y Polyn since I discovered it through watching The Wright Taste on TV a few years ago. I wish I’d been able to visit more but I don’t get out that way too often, unfortunately. However every time I’ve been Y Polyn has been consistently good, so good in fact that it moved my food finicky friend, TY, to proclaim that it had served him the best piece of pork he had ever tasted, when we took him there for his birthday one year. There is praise and there is food finicky praise…..

If you’re ever down West, you’ll find Y Polyn on the B4310 a few minutes past the entrance to the National Botanical Gardens. Go, you won’t be disappointed.